Manmohan had also urged the government to put aside vendetta politics as ‘India cannot afford to continue down this path’

New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said that she will take former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement on the ongoing economic crisis in the country. “Is Dr. Manmohan Singh saying that ‘instead of indulging in political vendetta they should consult sane voices?’ Has he said that? All right, thank you, I will take his statement on it. That is my answer”, Sitharaman told reporters when asked about Singh’s statement.

Earlier in the day, in a video statement, Singh had blamed the Narendra Modi-led government for the economic slowdown saying, “It is particularly distressing that the manufacturing sector’s growth is tottering at 0.6%. This makes it very clear that our economy has not yet recovered from the man-made blunders of demonetisation and hastily implemented GST.”

He had also urged the government to put aside vendetta politics as ‘India cannot afford to continue down this path’. Furthermore, Singh had held the “all-round mismanagement” by the Modi government responsible for the slowdown.

“The state of the economy today is deeply worrying. Last quarter’s GDP growth rate of 5% signals that were in the midst of a prolonged slowdown. India has the potential to grow at a much faster rate but all-round mismanagement by Modi govt has resulted in this slowdown,” the former Prime Minister stated in the video statement, days after the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed that India’s economy expanded at its slowest pace in over six years.

Meanwhile, Sitharaman said that she is meeting industries and taking their inputs, suggestions on what they would want and expect from government. “I’m responding to them. I have already done this twice. I will do it more number of times,” the Finance Minister added.

The economic growth slowed to a seven-year low of 5 per cent in April to June quarter from 8 per cent a year ago, government data showed on Friday. The slowdown was largely due to a sharp dip in the manufacturing sector and agriculture output said the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in a statement.

The previous low was recorded at 4.9 per cent in April to June 2012-13. Consumer demand and private investment have weakened amid global trade frictions and dampening business sentiment.